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U.S. Man Charged With Trying To Kill Obama


U.S. authorities say President Barack Obama was the target of an assassination attempt on November 11.
U.S. authorities say President Barack Obama was the target of an assassination attempt on November 11.

U.S. authorities have charged a 21-year-old man with trying to assassinate President Barack Obama after he fired shots at the White House.


Oscar Ortega-Hernandez appeared in court today in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to hear the charges against him, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.


According to court filings, a witness who knew Ortega-Hernandez in Idaho, where he is from, said he 'wanted to hurt' Obama and referred to him as 'the devil' and 'the anti-Christ."


In the November 11 incident, most of the bullets hit the building's exterior but one partially cracked a window with bullet-proof glass.

Police determined that the shooting originated outside the outer security perimeter that surrounds the White House, about 750 meters away from the building itself.

Authorities later found a semi-automatic assault rifle with a large scope in an abandoned vehicle.


Obama and his family were not in Washington at the time of the shooting and no one was hurt.


Ortega-Hernandez was arrested at a hotel near Indiana, Pennsylvania. Federal prosecutors said he will be transferred to Washington "within a few days."


In 1995, a U.S. man was sentenced to 40 years in prison after opening fire on the White House with a semi-automatic rifle. He was convicted of trying to assassinate President Bill Clinton.

compiled from agency reports

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